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Tucson and Cox Communications reached a tentative agreement Friday that will ultimately reduce the cable provider's public, educational and governmental channels from nine channels to five.

The deal, for which details are still being finalized, will last five years, officials said.

A separate agreement will be negotiated between Cox Communications and the University of Arizona for one channel, and between Cox and Pima Community College, which will have two channels until June 1, 2008, and one channel after that.

There is one digital channel that will continue until 65 percent of Cox subscribers use digital services, or by Dec. 1, 2009, whichever comes first. At that point another channel will convert from analog to digital.

The company has said reducing the public-access channels would allow it to provide more high-definition channels, of which it says customers want more.

While the City Council agreed to the terms of the deal, the language still needs to be finalized, said Michael DiMaria, director of governmental relations for Cox.

"We're pleased that council has recognized some of the things out there that are important to our customers," DiMaria said.

The agreement passed on a 5-2 vote at a special City Council meeting Friday in which the council discussed the agreement in a closed executive session. Council Members Jose Ibarra and Steve Leal voted against the agreement.

Ibarra said he opposed it because it's "a bad deal."

He said the city spent more than $160,000 on consulting fees to get a deal that is worse than what Cox offered the city in January negotiations.

In January, the company offered a nine-year agreement, and this deal gives the city only five years.

The city will also get $200,000 from Cox to settle "all outstanding audit issues," but Ibarra said the company owes the city $1.8 million.

He said he was frustrated the deal doesn't require Cox to cease all legislative efforts, too.

Cox has pushed a bill in the Legislature that would have reduced the city's public-access channels by more than half, and reduced its customer-paid franchise fees from 8.5 percent to 5 percent.

"If we're negotiating in good faith, they need to withdraw their legislation," Ibarra said.

Even if Cox does not pull the legislation, or if the Legislature continues considering the bill, it would not override the city's agreement, said Mike Hein, city manager.

"I really believe Cox got what they wanted today and residents of Tucson lost," Ibarra said.

But Hein said it shows that both sides care about Tucsonans.

"What today's agreement does is show significant progress from both sides in achieving mutual interest to serve the community," Hein said Friday.